On Homeschooling…

I am by no means an expert, but I have been homeschooling my kids for the last 4 years, so that’s something.

I’ve been approached by a lot of friends and acquaintances lately on the topic of homeschooling, since everyone was forced overnight into teaching their kids at home, knowing that I’ve been at this for a while.

What I will say is this. This is not homeschooling.

This is more like trauma schooling. For parent and child, as well as our precious educators who have stepped up to do the best they can with the technology they have. (Teachers, I see some sweet-ass teacher appreciation gifts coming your way next year!)

I do feel sadness that many parents will walk away from this experience thinking they know what homeschooling is and that they can’t do it, when in fact what they have a better idea of is more akin to a Forced Family Fun Adventure. You know the one where everyone is supposed to smile and look like they’re having a great time, but they’d rather lick a toilet seat? Yeah, that one.

The task at hand feels unsurmountable and like you’re destined to fail.

It all comes down to mindset.

If you’re trying to replicate school, stuck in the mentality of the way school “should” be. …the school they came from then, yes, you will likely fail.

And I don’t mean that as in your kids will be dumb and never amount to anything, because that one year you were forced to try and find a way to work from home while not losing your shit and also teach your kids algebra.

You will fail, not because you’re not smart enough, good enough, or because you don’t care enough, but because a classroom is set up to teach to the class of 25+ kids, with all different learning abilities, personalities, capabilities and more. It’s designed to meet them all somewhere in the middle, and that takes time. Specifically about 7-8 hours five days a week.

I get it.

I was that mom too.

The mom who thought that initially when we didn’t do work for the standard 7-8 hours a day, we were failing.

The mom who thought that learning had to come from a book or a lesson, or something prepared by a “qualified” teacher.

I had it wrong.

We are all qualified teachers.

No, we aren’t all good at math, writing, science, or history, but I would argue that we can all teach a child something.

We can teach them to be good people. To treat one another with respect. To be good stewards of the earth. To want better for the world, and dream it into being.

We can always find people, classes, learning opportunities to teach the things we don’t know how to teach, or that we struggle with ourselves.

You don’t have to be great at all the things.

And we can learn in a couple hours a day, or doing math 3 times a week, we can even learn math by baking a cake. Give them a reason to learn.

There are so many ways that we are teaching our children, every single day.

My suggestion is to loosen up the boxes that you’ve put “school” in and let learning out to play. Discover with wonder and curiosity what makes your child inspired.

We can always learn more details, but if we lose our curiosity for life and learning, the world becomes so small.

I’ve been taught more than once by my child that the way I do something is not necessarily the best or only way.

Be humbled.

Be brave.

Dare to let them show you what they want to learn.